No bad apples at Saints as club gets 'stronger together'

Director of rugby Boyd and CEO Mark Darbon have attracted plenty of praise for the way they have dealt with the hugely difficult times created by the pandemic.

The club's hierarchy have managed to keep communication lines open with staff, leading to 19 key players signing new contracts at Franklin's Gardens at the end of last month.

And Boyd, who switched to Saints from Super Rugby side the Hurricanes in 2018, said: "The feeling I got when I joined the club, right from the top, the ownership, head office and rugby staff and players - we've been very lucky we haven't really got any bad apples.

"We made a decision early doors that we really needed to stick together on this, people took pay cuts across the board, with the exception of the lower incomes, and we just thought it was important that if we were going to get through this, we needed to do it properly and with some dignity.

"No one likes to be in that situation, but you have to accept the world is a little bit different for a period of time even if it's not your first choice and you've just got to get on with it.

"I've been incredibly pleased with the way the players have all reacted, and the staff, to a very difficult situation and it's made us stronger together.

"We can feel pretty good about the fact we've got through this together and hopefully when the world comes back to normal, we'll get going again."

Boyd continues to build a formidable squad at Saints, bringing through a plethora of talented young players and trusting them at the top level.

And he added: "On top of those guys who signed new deals last month, we'd already signed quite a few guys to two or three-year contracts.

"Guys were going to be out of contract in 2021 - we had a lot of youngsters who had come on nicely in the past two or three years on that list - and all of those guys have recommitted long term so we've got a very stable environment here for the next two, three, four years.

"Hopefully if we've got our selections right and we can keep growing the individuals and the coaching group and S&C group and the medical group - I've got faith in all those areas - we can get some return on our investment."

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